Top 5 Reasons to Start Vermiposting

1. Plants Love Worm Castings!

This has to be the number one reason people have worm farms, the great mounds of worm poop make for great plant growing. The castings are rich in microbial life and have many nutrients that act as great fertilizer for just about any plant.

2. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Let’s face it , any time you can take leftover kitchen scraps, cardboard, coffee grounds and just about any vegetable type matter except onions and garlic, toss them into a bin full of red wigglers, and in a few days its all turned into that black gold know as worm castings, you have all three R’s covered. You have reduced the load on your local landfill, you have reused food scraps and it’s all been recycled into something that people will pay good money for! A win on all three counts!

3. Make Your Own Fish Bait!

I know what your thinking, If I fish with all the worms, whats gonna eat all my garbage? Well good news, the worms grow more worms, see Item number two above! Reuse!  These worms will reproduce and make more worms , after a while you will need to find something to do with the extras, unless you going into a commercial size operation. Why not fish with them, or sell them to your neighbor so they can fish with them??  Thinking hard yet?

4. The Worms almost run themselves.

You just set up the initial worm home, feed the regularly and the worms do the rest. They need very little input from the outside world. That’s not to say this is a completely hands off operation, but with some feeding every two or three days , keeping the bedding moist but not soggy and keeping the temperature right, the worms do the rest!

5. Low Initial Start Up Cost!

For less than $150 dollars you can put together a starter worm farm and be up and running. The worms are around $25 and for $100 you can get a decent worm bin.

Don’t want to pay, heck make your own worm bin, just do a search for worm bin plans and get started! See I told ya low start up cost!

So there you have it , my top 5 reasons to start Vermiposting!  what are ya waiting for?

See larger image Worm Factory DS5GT 5-Tray Worm Composter - Green (Lawn & Patio) List Price: $109.95 USD New From: $89.95 In Stock

See larger image Worm Factory 360 WF360B Worm Composter, Black (Lawn & Patio) List Price: $119.95 USD New From: $109.95 In Stock Used from: $102.25 In Stock Release date December 6, 2011.

Want to start with composting worms but don’t have the DIY skills to make up your own bin? Well here is the answer. The Worm Factory 360 stacking worm bin is for you.
Some of the Features include
* stacking four tray units that are expandable to eight trays.
* Built in worm tea collector tray with spigot for easy drain off.
* Instructional DVD with step by step guide.
* An accessory kit with basic tools to get you started, all you add are the worms!

So there it is, an easy way to get started down your own path of Recycle, Reduce and Reuse… and in return, you get the best soil amendment you could ever want..Worm Castings, Natures Black Gold!

If you wanted to get out and turn this over every two weeks or so the process would go much quicker, the extra oxygen from the aeration speeds up the composting action, you could have a finished  pile in as soon as two months.

I don’t get in a rush, so it takes a little longer for my stuff to cook.

As you can see , the cage was almost full , after cooking , not so much. the breakdown process compacts the compost down quite a bit.

Well there you have it, I will spread this around to feed all the spring garden plants.

Thank for dropping by.

Organic Soil Amendments
photo © 2009 Matt Montagne | more info (via: Wylio)

The absolute best type of amendment you can use in your soil is organic soil amendmentsbecause these organic soil amendments can add a reservoir of nutrients for plant roots to absorb.

To produce big juicy nutritional vegetables, your soil must be able to supply the plant with the following five critical nutrients:

* Nitrogen — for leaf development;
* magnesium — to help the plants with photosynthesis
* Calcium and phosphorus — to help the plant bear fruit and help root growth.
* Potassium — for root development and to resist disease.
* a range of micronutrients such as boron, iron and zinc.

Adding organic matter as organic soil amendments stimulates the natural cycles that enrich soil. Earthworms and soil microorganisms break down organic matter into forms that plants can use. As organic materials are slowly broken down by microorganisms, they are releasing their nutrients slowly over months or even years.

Organic soil admendments are far superior to synthetic chemical fertilizers because synthetic fertilizers are water-soluble and produce a sudden flush of mineral salts that are taken up rapidly py plants. However, even though such salts can produce good yields, they also repel earthworms and other compost-making creatures, our most important allies to keeping the soil fertile and rich. (Here’s a personal experience which showed me how worms hate synthetic fertilizers.)

If you use only synthetic chemical fertilizers, your soil will be lifeless soil, low in nutrients, and low to nil in compost. The only way to support your crops would be to add more doses of chemicals — and you’ve started on a merry-go–round of ruining your soil.

Because your soil is not being replenished, it will have less and less of the necessary nutrients for lush and healthy growth, the plants/vegetables will be less and less healthy thus more and more susceptible to being attacked by insects and pests.

To avoid this type of catastophic ending to nutritious food and better health, you might want to consider the opposite route of feeding the soil — i.e. using organic soil amendments.

If you want to find out exactly what nutrients might be missing in your soil, discover how to take a soil sample and send the sample to get your soil tested. The testers can tell you exactly what soil amendments must be added to your soil.

Organic soil amendments can be made of

natural plants (ex leaf mold or peatmoss) or animal materials (such as bloodmeal or bonemeal) or of powdered minerals or rock (such as rock phosphate or granite meal).
Different Ways to Create Organic Soil Amendments:

Here are examples of good common organic soil amendments you can use. These natural materials will feed and remedy any soil structure.

1. Compost or decomposing plant material — organic soil amendments which improve soil texture and add nutrients to the soil. Straw, grass clippings, or shredded leaves are examples of such mulches.

When organic soil amendments are added to the upper few inches of soil as mulch and are allowed to slowly decompose naturally, you are in fact mimicking nature’s process of feeding not only plants but also the soil.

The end result is the creation of humus, a stable form of decomposed organic matter that improves soil structure so roots can penetrate the soil easily.

Not only is the soil being replenished with nutrients, the compost or humus also increases the soil’s capacity to hold air and water.

On the other hand, you can choose to use compost bins to make compost– a mix of decomposed plant and animal materials. This organic soil amendment can then be worked into your soil in the spring before you plant or in the fall after harvest time.

OR…you can choose to cold compost also. All these methods of composting are explained step by step in the ebook How To Compost In Your Backyard or you may choose to read individual posts outlining each of the four composting methods step by step.

2. Peat moss, a lightweight and inexpensive natural and organic soil amendment, — helps loosen heavy soils or in the case of sand, to radically improve the ability of soil to hold moisture. Peat moss can be bought in big or small quantities. I always used to keep a bag or two in my shed.

3. Composted manure, (usually cow or sheep manure which can be bought in bags) — improves drainage and moisture retention in the soil and adds nitrogen among other nutrients. Composted manure has a rich, dark texture and is easy to work into soil.

4. Leaf mold (composted or decomposed leaves) — helps loosen the soil. High in nitrogen and potassium, the leaf mold releases its nutrients slowly in soil. Leaf mold and other garden leftovers are often called “the gardener’s gold” for when decomposed, the resulting organic soil amendment helps any type of soil become rich loam.

5. Shredded bark or wood chippings — improves soil texture by making it more airy and help with proper soil drainage. Shredded bark such as cedar bark is often used to mulch around the base of plants and trees.

Avoid shredding or chipping any wood which has been painted or have been tainted with oil preservatives or such things as plywood which is kept together with glue.

6. Worm castings — is a terrific addition to organic soil amendments which bring with it much needed nutrients. I have been using worm castings for my balcony and indoor potted plants and have found worm castings to be every bit as good as composted plant material.

7. Green manure, — a great organic soil amendment which can add many nutrients and amend texture immensely.

Green manure is easy to make. In the fall after the harvest, plant alfalfa seeds or soy seeds (be sure the seeds are GMO-free) in your garden. Allow it to grow some, and in the early spring before the crop starts making seeds, cut the growing plant to the ground and then plow it in or with a shovel turn this green manure under. I’ve used this method extensively during the last five years I still had my house.

By adding the proper organic soil amendments to change the texture of your soil, you are well on the way to producing rich loam, the road to healthier, more nutritious vegetables and plants which are lush and vibrant.

Marcie
Bio: A gardener since the 70′s, Marcie Snyder knows that it is important to grow your own vegetables and plants organically and that adding organic soil amendments is extremely important to growing healthy nourishing vegetables.
You will find loads of great tips in her FREE ebook “The Complete Guide to Organic Vegetable Gardening” (OVG GUIDE), as well as a very comprehensive step-by-step ebook detailing 4 methods of composting. Check for more articles at http://organicvegetablegardeningguide.com/blog

Vermiposting, also known as vermicomposting is the use of worms to break down Kitchen and Garden scraps into a great soil amendment! So check it out!

How to Make Your Own Worm Compost System

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Vermiculture, or worm composting, allows you to compost all your food waste faster than you ever imagined, while producing the highest quality compost and fertilizing liquid. Best of all, it’s self-contained and nearly odorless!

Steps For Vermiposting!

1. Obtain a worm bin
   

• These can be purchased from many online vendors or your local gardening or farm supply store.
• You can build your own vermiposting bin. Use rubber storage totes, galvanized tubs, wood, or plastic.
  • Material: Rubber is cheap, easy to use and durable. Galvanized tubs are somewhat costly but will last forever. Wood will eventually be eaten, and plastic cracks easily, but either will do in a pinch. Some people prefer wooden  vermiposting bins because they may breathe better and absorb excess moisture[1], which can be hazardous to the worms. Just don’t use chemically-treated wood, which may be dangerous to worms or leach harmful chemicals into your compost. 5-gallon plastic buckets now for sale by most hardware stores can be used – especially if you live in an apartment. Clean the big 5-gallon soap buckets thoroughly and let them sit for a day or so filled with clean water before using as a worm bin.
  • Ventilation: Your vermiposting bin should be well-ventilated, with several 1/8 inch (3mm) holes 4 inches (100mm) from the bottom (otherwise the worms will stay at the bottom of the bin and you may drown your worms). For example, you can build a worm bin out of a large plastic tub with several dozen small holes drilled out on the bottom and sides.
  • Size: The larger you make the container, the more worms it can sustain. Estimate 1 pound (0.45kg) of worms (1,200) for every square foot of surface area. The maximum productive depth for your bin is 24 inches (61cm) deep because composting worms will not go further down than that.
  • Cover: The bin should have a cover to prevent light from getting in and to prevent the compost from drying out. Choose or make a lid that can be removed if your compost is too wet. Use a canvas tarp, doubled over and bungee-corded on, or kept in place with wood. Burlap sacks also work well, and can be watered directly.
• Use 4 old car tires: To make a four-tire wormery, create a base from old bricks or flagstones (must be flat and with as few cracks as possible). Place a layer of heavy newspaper on top of the bricks. Stuff four old tires with newspapers. Pile the tires on top of each other, with the first tire on the Sunday newspaper. Put some scrunched up paper or cardboard in the bottom to soak up any excess liquid. Fill the entire wormery with organic material (semi-composted is best). Add the composting worms (tiger or brandling species are best). Use a piece of board weighed down with bricks as a lid. The lid must be big enough to stop rain getting in. Harvest a tire’s worth of fertilizer roughly every 8 weeks (during warm months).
• Prepare the box for worms. Fill your vermiposting bin with thin strips of unbleached corrugated cardboard or shredded newspaper, straw, dry grass, or some similar material. This provides a source of fiber to the worms and keeps the bin well-ventilated. Sprinkle a handful of dirt on top, and thoroughly moisten. Allow the water to soak in for at least a day before adding worms. You can also use Canadian peat moss, which is more expensive but yields a loamier vermipost.

• Get worms. There are several varieties of worms that that are bred and sold commercially for vermiposting; just digging up earthworms from your backyard is not recommended. The Internet or local gardening club is your best bet for finding a worm vendor near you. The worms most often used, Eisenia foetida (Red Wigglers), are about 4 inches long, mainly red along the body with a yellow tail. Another variety to consider are Eisenia hortensis, known as “European Night crawlers.” They do not reproduce quite as fast as the red wigglers, but grow to be larger, eat courser paper and cardboard better, and seem to be heartier. Dendrobaena’s are also a good choice, search online for them. They are also better fishing worms when they do reach full size. However, with any non-native species, it is important not to allow them to reach the wild. Their voracious appetites and reproductive rates (especially among the red wigglers) have been known to upset the delicate balance of the hardwood forests by consuming the leaf litter too quickly. This event leaves too little leaf letter to slowly incubate the hard shelled nuts and leads to excessive erosion as well as negatively affecting the pH of the soil. So, do your best to keep them confined!

• Maintain your vermiposting bin. Keeping your bin elevated off the ground, using bricks, cinder blocks, or whatever is convenient will help speed composting and keep your worms happy. Worms are capable of escaping almost anything, but if you keep your worms fed and properly damp, they should not try to escape. A light in the same area will ensure your worms stay put. Sprinkle the surface with water every other day. Feed your worms vegetable scraps at least once a week. Feeding lightly and often will produce more worms (which is good when starting a new bin) and large amounts fed less often will fatten your worms (good for fishing). Add more cardboard, shredded newspaper, hay, or other fibrous material once a month, or as needed. Your worms will reduce everything in your bin quickly. You will start with a full bin of compost or paper/cardboard, and soon it will be half full. This is the time to add fibrous material.
• Harvest the compost, using one of the following techniques.
  • Put on rubber gloves, and move any large un-composted vegetable matter to one side. Then, with your gloved hands, gently scoop a section of worms and compost mixture onto a brightly lit piece of newspaper or plastic wrap. Scrape off the compost in layers. Wait a while giving the worms time to burrow into the center of the mound. Eventually you will end up with a pile of compost next to a pile of worms. Return the worms to the bin, do whatever you want with the compost, and repeat.
  • If you prefer a hands-off technique, simply push the contents of the bin all to one side and add fresh food, water, dirt, and bedding to the empty space. The worms will slowly migrate over on their own. This requires much more patience, of course.
  • The last technique is to use a separator.
    • Barrel separators are expensive and available on the internet.
    • You can also make your own shaker box.
• Apply the harvested vermipost to plants, or use it to make worm tea.

Tips for your Vermiposting

• If you have two vermiposting bins, it can be a bit easier to get at your compost. Fill one bin and start the next. When you want to get at the compost, move the uncomposted matter from bin one to bin two and use all the finished compost. Bin two, the now-active bin, becomes full and then bin one becomes the active bin again.
• Egg shells in your bin increase the calcium content of the compost you produce. Worms also seem to like to curl up in them. To be most effective, eggshells must be dried out and finely ground (with a mortar and pestle or a rolling pin) before their addition to a bin. Use raw eggshells, not cooked.
• You can throw your coffee grounds, unbleached filters, and used teabags (remember to remove the staple!) right in the bin.
• The smaller you chop up/crush the food, the faster the worms will eat it. (And the faster your bin will produce compost.) Although some home-scale worm keepers use blenders to puree food scraps, others believe vermiposting should be a low-carbon-footprint endeavor and thus use little or no electricity.
• If you would like to collect the water (liquid fertilizer) produced by watering your worms, place a tray under the compost bin. Otherwise, the ground under the bin will become terrifically fertile. An elevated bin (either on bricks, or a bin with built-in legs) sitting in a tray of water will also prevent ants and other unwanted critters from getting into the bin.
• Remember that a worm bin is a tiny ecosystem. Don’t attempt to remove the other critters living in your worm bin, they are helpers. However, do remove centipedes: Centipedes are carnivores, and eat baby worms and worm eggs.
• Shredded paper junk mail, egg cartons, cereal boxes, and pizza boxes all make excellent bedding (avoid glossy paper). Always soak household paper waste bedding for at least 12 hours before adding it to the bin, and thoroughly squeeze out the water first. Don’t shred junk mail envelopes unless you remove the plastic windows! Worms won’t eat plastic, and picking hundreds of shredded plastic window panes out of otherwise beautiful compost is a vermiculturist’s nightmare.
• Pre-composted cow manure is a great food for worms. Just be sure to bury it at least 3 inches deep. Rabbit, sheep, and goat droppings do not require pre-composting and their addition makes outstanding vermicompost.
• Green food increases nitrogen in your finished compost. Examples are: green grass, beet tops, carrot tops, philodendron leaves, fresh cut clover or alfalfa.
• Brown food increases carbon and phosphate in your finished product. Examples are: paper, cardboard, wood chips, leaves, bread. If adding fresh lawn grass, be certain chemicals have not been added to the lawn. Lawn chemicals are deadly to the ecosystem in the bin.
• A balanced diet makes for a healthy bin, healthy worms and a great finished product.
• Finely ground and moistened grains (flour, oatmeal, etc.) are eaten the fastest, followed by fruits, grass, leaves, cardboard, paperboard (cereal boxes), white paper, cotton products, and magazines (slick paper). Wood takes the longest (up to a year or more).
• Calcium carbonate works well to solve most problems. Be sure to use calcium carbonate (e.g., powdered limestone) and not quicklime (calcium oxide).
• There are several types of pre-made wormeries available online. From Beehive Wormeries which take care of home/kitchen/green waste to Dog Poo Wormeries which will deal with pet waste, try searching online.

Warnings

• Do not feed your worms meat, dairy products, eggs, or oily foods.
• Go easy on the citrus rinds. You can add them, but remember that they’re acidic. If possible, a little at a time with plenty of other matter.
• Don’t allow your bin to dry out. If there are enough holes at the bottom, your worms are not likely to drown, but they will die without water.
• Some varieties of worms may be sensitive to the oils or pH of your skin. Internet forum posts by active vermicomposters indicate that handling their worms seems to not yield any negative effects.
• Extremes of temperatures are deadly for worms- about 50 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal. Don’t place a worm bin in direct sunlight or out in the cold. Sustained frosts will kill your worms. If this is an issue in your area, move outdoor bins into a garage or shed during winter. If bringing your worm bin indoors during the winter is not possible add a small heating pad as follows: push the matter away from one side, place the pad up against that side, then backfill onto the pad. Run the wire out to an extension, plug it in and leave the pad set on low – or medium in particularly cold weather. This will prevent freezing in winter.
• Don’t allow your worm bin to heat up past 90 degrees. You will cook your worms — something no one should smell.
• Large amounts of green feeds (grass, alfalfa, etc.) heat up quickly and should be added lightly.
• Fresh (uncomposted) cow manure contains harmful pathogens and should not be used. It will also heat the bin to deadly levels and kill your worms.
• Powdered limestone will create carbon dioxide in your bins and suffocate your worms if the bins are not well ventilated. Use sparingly only if absolutely necessary and stir your bin every few days following adding.

Related wikiHows

• How to Build a Compost Bin
• How to Use Your Home Built Tumble Composter to Create Rich Compost
• How to Build a Tumbling Composter
• How to Find Inexpensive Mulch
• How to Look After Houseplants
• How to Create Urban Rainforests
• How to Make Worm Castings Tea

Sources and Citations

1. ↑ http://vermontworms.com/red-wiggler-compost-worm-bin/

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make Your Own Worm Compost System. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

There you have it, vermicomposting is easy, takes a little effort on your part, just follow these steps and your ready to have rich soil amendments at your fingertips!

Let’s Start Building The Compost Pile!

1.   Old Hay

We have alot of hay bales and they break open or get wet and just generally get unusable, I take the old bales and break them up, soak them down real good with the water hose and then layer them in the pile, This makes up the main ingredient in my system.  You have to soak them good, otherwise it acts like a thatched roof and water just rolls right off of it!  Don’t put any hay that has been treated with herbicides into your compost pile, it will be bad news for any plants that you use that compost on.

2. Grass Clippings

Grass Clippings are the green component or nitrogen ingredient of this set up, I have about an acre and a half of “lawn” area and that provides plenty of grass clippings for 2 piles I use a Cub Cadet walk behind mower with bagger for harvesting the grass clippings, it works great !    P.S.  We also have a riding mower for the rest of the yard, I don’t push the bagger over the whole yard! :/ Grass clippings in your compost pile can get “gummy” make sure you mix it in good!

3.   Animal Manure

We have Cows, Chickens, Pigs, Goats and a Horse, there is no shortage of manure choices.  I usually us chicken litter for this component, it’s easy to get because the chickens roost in the same place every night, occasionally the odd cow pie will go in if I have the shovel handy  but I don’t go turd hunting for the most part! If you use manure in your compost pile, make sure it has plenty of time to break down. If you put fresh chicken litter on a plant it will burn due to the high nitrogen content, use caution.

These three items make up the main part of the compost pile, once I get the layers they pretty well sit for about a month, after about three days if everything is working, you can pull back the top layer and feel the heat that is building up… that means its working!

The Next two ingredients are stuff that just goes on the pile as they build up, they add that little extra boost hehehe.

4. Garden And Yard Waste

This is anything that I pull from the garden that doesn’t get eaten or fed to some animal, weeds, dead plant matter, well let me say naturally dead, not anything that was diseased, that’s a good way to ruin your garden!  And as above more grass clippings, shredded fall leaves… they too will make a waterproof mat if left whole!  They don’t have to be powder, just break em up a little.

5. Kitchen Waste

This can be just about anything but meat, dairy, or oils. I drink alot of coffee and all my used coffee grounds go into the compost pile, we put the egg shells in there the whole shooting match.  This makes up a small amount of the overall pile , but it adds alot of good stuff!

So there you go , this is what I have put in the compost piles I make. If You want to see the pile being built check Here.

Enjoy!

Practical Compost Making

Author: Katie Collins

Whether you are an ordinary gardener, or an organic gardener which doesn’t use of any sort of chemical additive for fertilization or pest control, a quality compost becomes one of the most important factors in determining the ultimate success of your garden. Compost is one of nature’s best mulches and soil amendments. With a good quality compost there is no need to use any sort of commercial fertilizer, and one of the best features of compost is that it can literally be made without spending a dime.

What Exactly Is Compost

Compost is the remnants of any organic material that has been aerobically decomposed. Compost is often also called humus. In earth science “humus” is defined as any organic matter which has reached a point of stability, where it will break down no further and can remain essentially as it is for centuries, or even millennia. So both words, for practical gardening purposes, basically mean the same thing; the end product of decomposed organic matter. It is also important to note that this decomposition is a result of a aerobic process as opposed to an anaerobic process. For example, vegetables placed in an airtight plastic bag will still decompose but will do so in an anaerobic manner since there is limited oxygen available. Anaerobic decomposition is what produces the foul odor that most of us are quite aware of.

The Compost Decomposition Process

The decomposition of organic matter is actually a process of repeated digestions as organic matter repeatedly passes through the intestinal tracts of soil animals or is attacked by the digestive enzymes secreted by microorganisms. Compost is the end product of this complex feeding pattern involving hundreds of different microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects. In reality composting simply replicates nature’s natural system of breaking down materials on the forest floor. But fortunately for us, the organic gardener, this process results in a product that significantly improves soil fertility and helps keep the soil in a healthy balanced condition where nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus will be produced naturally.

Compost Ingredients

Although almost any organic material can be used for compost pile, caution should be used when backyard composting as most backyard systems will not reach high enough temperatures to kill pathogens or deter vermin. So generally pet feces, non vegetarian animal manure, meat scraps, and dairy products should not be used unless you can be sure that an adequate temperatures will be reached.

To ensure proper composting your compost pile needs the right mixture of carbon rich “brown matter” and nitrogen rich “green matter”. Brown matter can consist of such items as dried leaves, straw, sawdust, wood chips, and even non-inked paper and cardboard. Green matter can include green plant material such as grass clippings, fresh cut hay, weeds, animal manures, fruit and vegetable table scraps, seaweed’s, and coffee grounds.

The Composting Process

This speed by which the composting process will occur will depend to a large extent on amount of effort you desire to put into creating the compost. Passive composting obviously takes the least amount of effort on your part. You simply mix the materials together in a freestanding pile and allow them to sit and rot on their own. This process may take a year or two but eventually you’ll have compost.

However, by actively managing your compost pile, you can often get finished compost in as little as one month. You can actively decrease the amount of time it takes to create compost if you’re willing to take the time to chop up your materials since shredded organic materials can heat up more rapidly and decompose quickly.

Heat is an important factor in effective composting. Hot composting allows aerobic bacteria to thrive. The ideal condition is for pasteurization to occur in a hot compost. Pasteurization will occur when the temperature reaches 55° Celsius (131°F) or more for three or more days. This will kill most pathogens and seeds. Pasteurized compost is valuable to the home gardener since the pasteurization process is otherwise both expensive and complicated, and adding chemicals to produce pasteurization is not an acceptable alternative for organic gardening.

Compost Tumblers

For many gardeners, space is often an issue, and even you have adequate space in your backyard you may not want to have a large unsightly compost heap. Compost tumblers offer a reasonable and effective alternative to the compost pile. And while the claims of some compost tumblers to produce compost in as little as 13 days may be slightly exaggerated, they do offer several benefits over the standard compost heap and they actually can accelerate the decomposition process because of their convenience.

There are a number of benefits of compost tumblers. First, they are generally easy to use and come in a number of sizes and styles that make the turning of your compost piles much easier. Second, because they are fully enclosed they are pest proof from such common pests as squirrels, raccoons, rats and dogs. Also, because tumblers are in a closed environment it’s much easier to retain moisture so your compost doesn’t dry out. Also in wet weather it won’t get too soggy. The enclosed environment also keeps unpleasant orders inside the compost tumbler (however if you’re keeping your compost properly aerated by proper turning there should not be any unpleasant odors).

Whether you garden by more modern means, or are a strict organic gardener, one thing is certain; healthy plants come from a healthy and nutritious soil. By making your own compost (a.k.a. gardeners black gold), not only are you being environmentally friendly and very economical, you’re producing your own natural black gold for your vegetables, herbs and flowers and providing healthy, safe, and great tasting food for your loved ones.

About the Author:
Katie Collins is a gardener, mother and writer.
For more great articles and advice on gardening please visit our websites at
Great Vegetable Gardens and
Better Organic Gardens

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Practical Compost Making

So read up and tell me what you think!

What Makes Composting Worthwhile

Author: Paul Hata

If you’re into organic gardening you probably know by know about compost and how it works wonders to your garden patch. But for the first timers, creating a compost pile is not really on the top of their to-do-list. The question of is composting worthwhile usually comes up and not knowing enough they usually arrive at the easiest answer and course of action. And that’s a nope, I don’t have time for making my own compost. I will settle with the commercially available organic fertilizers and stuff.

First things first, composting is the process of decomposing organic wastes, which can be household wastes or plant remains or a mixture of both, and making them into a dark, earthy, and loose or crumbly substance. Because compost is rich in minerals which most plants need, compost can be made to replace your garden soil.

Most often, however, gardeners use compost to enrich their garden soil. When compost is added the soil, the overall structure of the soil improved allowing it to hold more water and letting air circulate within the soil.

Contrary to some of your perceptions, compost is quite easy to make and is especially easy to use. There are several methods that could be used when creating compost. The following guide shows how easy it is to create it on your own backyard.

I would suggest making your own compost bin to make everything confined to one place. You will avoid making a mess in your backyard if you do so. Plus, temperature and moisture can also be regulated if you construct a compost bin but allow the organic materials to be composted touch the soil. You need to allow your earthworm buddies and other organic microbes help out in the decomposing process.

Although, almost all organic materials could go into your compost pile, a good combination of greens and browns would be better. The greens refer to nitrogen-rich organic matter like fresh grass, leaves, and your scraps in your kitchen. The browns on the other hand refer to organic matter that contains a lot of carbon such as those dried leaves on your backyard, straw and, of course, wood chips or shavings.

A good combination of greens and browns can dictate how fast you will have a finished compost. Admittedly, you will have an edge in this area if you have piled up your experience in compost making. Why? Well, for starters you would probably have timed how fast the final compost is created from the different proportions of greens and browns.

Some, however, would suggest that the best proportion would be 25 percent of your compost pile is made of browns and 1 percent is made of greens.Take note that if you have a large part made up of browns the compost pile will decompose rather slowly. On the other hand, having too much greens on the pile could cause some serious smell.

Other elements that you should always consider when making compost are the air and the amount of water your pile will need. It is best to keep your compost pile damp. This will help in the decomposing process. Air is also needed so make sure your pile is properly aerated. If you do observe that no air is coming in, just turn over your pile. Observe and continuously aerate your pile every until you can already harvest the fruits of your labor.

It takes some effort in creating compost, that part I have to agree. But the results of composting are really worthwhile.

About the Author:

1000s of Affordable Garden,Organic,Agriculture and Food Products -
WorldGardenPages.com,
WorldOrganicPages.com,
WorldAgriculturePages.com
and WorldFoodPages.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – What Makes Composting Worthwhile

We are trying to help others by bringing current, up to date information on composte piles, composting, composting with worms or vermiposting and organic soils and practices to help grow better food.

By using new methods , and a few old ones too, we hope to improve the taste of home grown vegetables , improve harvests , and control pests in a enviormentally kinder way!

So come on in and join us in our quest for better tasing food and a safer environment.

P.S. Feel free to comment!